Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey supports assisted suicide bill

CANTERBURY, England — Three leading Anglicans have entered an explosive debate about whether it is permissible for Christians to allow doctors in England and Wales to administer lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients given less than six months to live.

More than 100 members of the House of Lords, England’s upper house of Parliament, have asked to speak on the second reading of the Assisted Dying Bill on Friday (July 18).

The bill will be opposed by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is expected to reaffirm the Church of England’s traditional hostility to any move that would endanger the Christian principle of the sanctity of human life.

But former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, who unexpectedly intervened saying it would not be “anti-Christian” to believe that terminally ill people should be allowed to die with dignity, supports the new bill.

In a short article in the July 11 edition of the Daily Mail, he said, “The fact is that I have changed my mind. The old philosophical certainties have collapsed in the face of the reality of needless suffering.”